February 26, 2013
A Channel Reflects the Reshaping of TV Demographics
By STUART ELLIOTT
NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/business/media/a-channel-reflects-the-reshaping-of-tv-demographics.html
A TELEVISION network that offers programming aimed at African-Americans
is stepping up advertising sales operations as it attracts a growing
roster of blue-chip marketers.
The network, Bounce TV, part of Bounce Media, has hired Dennis Ray for
the new post of executive vice president for advertising sales. Mr. Ray,
whose résumé includes stints at Fox Broadcasting and NBC, is based in a
new New York sales office for Bounce TV, which has headquarters in
Atlanta. He is overseeing a staff of three sales executives, with plans
to add additional employees in the office.
Bounce TV, which began its digital over-the-air broadcasts in September
2011, is indicative of the multiplying media choices for multicultural
consumers like African-Americans and Hispanics, whose increasing numbers
and buying power make them attractive audiences for marketers.
“You can look at the last election,” Mr. Ray said in a telephone
interview. “Diversity is imperative for the survival of these companies
and their brands.”
In broadcasting to African-Americans, and selling commercial time to
marketers seeking to reach them, Bounce TV competes with channels and
networks that include Aspire, BET, Black Heritage Network, Centric, GMC
and TV One.
The hiring of Mr. Ray and the opening of the New York office come after
Bounce TV has sold commercials to marketers that include the Chrysler
Group, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald’s, Nissan Motor,
Sprint, Toyota Motor and Wal-Mart Stores. The expansionary moves also
come after Nielsen began to measure viewership for Bounce TV and issue
ratings data.
Bounce TV now reaches 77 million American television homes and 86
percent of African-American television homes, said Jonathan Katz, chief
operating officer at Bounce TV, who joined Mr. Ray for the interview.
“We are poised to capitalize on that growth on Madison Avenue,” Mr. Katz
said, “and that was part of the decision to bring Dennis in.”
Mr. Ray said that when he started talking to Mr. Katz about Bounce TV,
“I told Jonathan this is eerily familiar to me” because it reminded him
of “when I was leaving NBC to go to Fox” in 1989, “working to build
something from the ground up.”
“We’ve had over 50 meetings with agencies” recently, Mr. Ray said, and
“we are in talks” with marketers of packaged-goods products to join the
lineup of Bounce TV advertisers.
Executives at agencies already working with Bounce TV praise it.
“There are a few other solid African-American networks,” said Detavio
Samuels, executive vice president at GlobalHue in Southfield, Mich.,
which works for the Chrysler Group. “But I love that Bounce TV is not on
cable, because the opportunity to get more eyeballs to the network is
great.”
“And Bounce TV has been doing the right thing in getting distribution,”
he added.
Although African-Americans as a demographic group “may not have the same
growth trajectory of Hispanics,” Mr. Samuels said, they remain important
to marketers for several reasons that, in addition to buying power,
include their status as “true influencers of pop culture in America.”
“The goal is to engage with African-American audiences in a way that
enables them to become influencers,” he said. “It’s definitely about the
amplification.”
Deborah Gray-Young, vice president and media director at Burrell
Communications in Chicago, which works for clients like McDonald’s and
Toyota, said: “We really liked Bounce TV’s philosophy on programming
being family-friendly and respectful. Not all programming in the
marketplace adheres to those values.”
“I take offense to a lot of the stuff out there” that is “denigrating,
meanspirited and salacious,” she added. “You want to be in an
environment where consumers appreciate what’s coming into their homes.
The idea you could be anywhere on that network and not be concerned what
the content is makes our job easier.”
Ad sales for Bounce TV had previously been handled by two representation
firms, the Ace Media Corporation and Marathon Ventures. Mr. Ray, who
worked with Ace Media on the initial sales efforts for Bounce TV, now
takes over that function as Bounce TV brings it in-house. Marathon will
continue working for Bounce TV, Mr. Katz said, handling sales of direct
response advertising.
The Bounce TV moves come as the television industry readies for the
upfronts, the annual series of sales presentations ahead of the coming
season. Some upfront presentations for 2013-14 have already been made;
dozens more are planned through mid-May.
Bounce TV plans to hold meetings with agencies individually during the
upfront season.
Underlining the reshaping of television’s demographic landscape is a
deal that Bounce TV made in December with Univision Communications,
which specializes in programming aimed at Hispanic viewers. The
agreement calls for the Univision Television Group to carry Bounce TV
through what is known as multicasting — a digital television technology
that gives viewers access to local broadcast TV channels — in seven
major markets like Boston, Miami and San Francisco.
“It seemed like a great partnership to serve the largest two minorities
in the United States,” said Kevin Cuddihy, president at the Univision
Television Group. The agreement, with undisclosed financial terms, is “a
multiple-year deal,” he added, “with options for extending it.”
Helping Bounce TV reach more viewers of broadcast television is
important, Mr. Cuddihy said, because “African-Americans and Latinos have
a higher percentage of over-the-air viewing” compared with cable viewing.
“To use our bandwidth to broadcast Bounce TV makes a sweet combo,” he
added.
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